“I have seen abuse and abrasion of the skin due to the use of the wrong products that are so aggressive that they contribute to skin aging rather than helping it. Why would you burn, dry, and peel? Rather than nourishing and maintaining healthy skin, the overuse of these wrong products expedites the skin’s aging process.”

These wise words were told by the French exepert facialist Joëlle Ciocco. It is no longer “no pain, no gain”; gentle is the new way to go.

Here are a few rules to achieve great skin.

1- Double Cleanse Your Face at Night

Good hygiene doesn’t mean burning your skin; it means respecting it. So you need to clean your skin thoroughly at night, while respecting the flora of your skin. If you feel “squeaky clean,” have rough or dry patches on your skin, or feel as though your skin isn’t balanced, your cleanser is much too harsh.

In fact, you need to clean your face and neck twice. The first time, you get rid of the impurities, pollution, or makeup with a creamy product.

The second time, you clean the topmost layer, or the stratum corneum itself. When you do this, you optimize the skin’s natural protection and regeneration, which primarily takes place at night while you’re sleeping.

It’s best to do this gently, or you can end up with dry and irritated skin.

Who knew that something as mundane as cleansing could become key to having the healthiest skin? This part of your beauty routine is a game changer. I guarantee that you will see the difference in a few days Cleansing milks, balms or cleansing oils are best for dry skin.

2- Use Thermal Water

After the double cleansing, apply your favorite toner with a cotton pad. Do not rinse but use a spray of thermal spring water, such as the ones from Avène or Evian, and blot off or wipe off gently with tissues. This will hydrate your face and more than you can imagine.

3- Stay away from daily or weekly harsh scrubs

According to skin expert Philippe Simonin, using harsh scrubs or dermabrasion is like “removing the roof of the house.” Scrubbing doesn’t make your skin cleaner; using a good cleanser is all that’s needed to remove the grime of the day, even if you have acne or oily skin.

If you miss your scrubs, simply switch to a gentle exfoliating cleanser. The key word is gentle. If you still need more of a glow, add a brightening treatment. (An added bonus is that a brightener will even out any pigmentation issues.) A Frenchwoman would never use a harsh scrub or attempt a chemical peel at home. “Every time you do a peel, there is a micro-trauma,” explains Philippe. “If you were to do a scrub only once—yes, once!—you would take off three layers of skin. It takes forty-eight hours to rebuild one layer of skin. It takes a week to recover.”